SS Gleyber Torres has a new fan: Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson. Reggie told William Boor he loves Gleyber’s “personality and character and presentation as a person,” among other things. Pretty neat. Here are some notes before we get to the weekly updates:

The Yankees have re-signed LHP Evan Rutckyj, according to Eddy. Kinda funny after he talked some trash about the Yankees while with the Braves as a Rule 5 Draft pick in Spring Training. Here’s what he said, in case you missed it.

Brian Cashman confirmed Torres will start next season with Double-A Trenton and “we’ll see where it goes from there,” reports ErikBoland. Reaching Triple-A as a 20-year-old would be pretty crazy. By the way, according to Cashman, the Yankees have not yet decided where SS Jorge Mateo will start 2017.

Cashman told Brendan Kuty the Yankees will continue to have Mateo work in center field in Spring Training. “He’s athletic as hell. In the Instructional League, it was very easy for him. So, if that’s a direction that we choose to go, it’s something he’ll be very good at,” said the GM.

For the second straight offseason, OF Aaron Judge will work with the team’s hitting gurus in Tampa, reports Kuty. “Got a couple of games (in MLB), saw what it’s like and now just get ready to prepare and come into next year not as an unknown. I’ll know what’s going on and what the league is and I’ll be prepared,” said Judge.

OF Edel Luaces and OF Erick Mendez were each suspended 50 games after failing performance-enhancing drug tests, MLB announced. Luaces tested positive for an amphetamine while with the rookie GCL Yankees. Mendez test positive for Propylhexedrine while with rookie Pulaski.

And finally, Torres claimed the top spot in this week’s Prospect Hot Sheet. He currently leads the Arizona Fall League in batting average as a 19-year-old. No one under 21 has ever won the league’s batting title.

Arizona Fall League

1B Greg Bird: 16 G, 13-62, 8 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 11 BB, 16 K, 1 SB, 1 HBP (.210/.338/.355) — started out well but has slowed down of late … as long as the shoulder is healthy, I don’t care what the numbers are

Mexican Pacific League

OF Tito Polo: 16 G, 14-58, 11 R, 4 2B, 1 RBI, 4 BB, 17 K, 8 SB, 1 CS, 3 HBP (.241/.323/.310) — left a game with an injury last week, but he returned to action this week, so it was nothing serious

The Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (Puerto Rico) started its season last week. IF Vince Conde and OF Aaron Judge are both listed on rosters, though they haven’t played yet. Considering Judge ended the season hurt (oblique) and is slated to work in Tampa this offseason, I’m guessing he won’t play either.

C Gary Sanchez was named MVP of the Arizona Fall League Fall Stars Game last weekend, going 1-for-3 with a two-run home run off Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland, the eighth overall pick in the 2014 draft. Sanchez also threw out a runner trying to steal second. Eric Longenhagen said he clocked his pop time at 1.82 seconds. That’s nuts. A 1.9-second pop time is great. The videos are above. Sanchez been a monster in the AzFL.

In other news, Matt Eddy has posted this year’s collection of six-year minor league free agents. Here are the Yankees farmhands now on the open market:

1B Kyle Roller also became a free agent, says Eddy. Moreno, de la Cruz, DePaula, Figueroa, and Noel all spent time with the Yankees this past season. (De La Cruz was called up but didn’t pitch.) Allen was acquired from the Diamondbacks for Juan Miranda way back in the day. Castillo is probably the best prospect of the bunch but he’s a fringy light-hitting utility type at best. Good prospects don’t get to minor league free agency.

Thanks to the minor league free agents and the recent UTIL Jose Pirela trade, the crop of Yankees farmhands playing winter ball thinned out considerably this week. Here’s the weekly update.

IF Abi Avelino: 1 G, 0-1, 1 K — appeared in one game two weeks ago and hasn’t played since … believe it or not, that’s pretty common in the Caribbean winter leagues … they’re very competitive and he may have been dropped from the active roster because the team didn’t think he could help them win

SS Jorge Mateo is listed on a roster but has not appeared in a game yet. At this point, I’m guessing he won’t play at all. He had a long season and he ended the year on the DL, remember, so the Yankees can hold him back from winter ball.

RHP Bryan Mitchell: 3 G, 3 GS, 13.1 IP, 11 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 11 K, 1 HB, 1 WP (2.70 ERA and 1.20 WHIP) — the season doesn’t end until early-January but I don’t think Mitchell will pitch that long … either way, there’s still time for him to make a few more starts and throw a few more innings after working out of the bullpen for much of the regular season

2B Angelo Gumbs is listed on a roster but has not appeared in a game yet.

Venezuelan Winter League

OF Ben Gamel: 23 G, 22-82 (.268), 8 R, 4 2B, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 10 BB, 17 K, 3 SB, 1 CS (.268/.337/.427) — between the regular season and winter ball, he’s up to 152 games played this year … long season

OF Teodoro Martinez: 28 G, 28-105 (.267), 14 R, 2 2B, 2 3B, 11 RBI, 4 BB, 12 K, 2 SB, 2 HBP (.267/.304/.324) — he’s still in the organization apparently … the Yankees signed him out of an independent league at midseason when they needed some healthy outfielders and that’s not usually a job with a lot of staying power